Game casts lovely spell on Julie’s life
THE game of Scrabble has been around for 80 years, and for this competitive player, it’s a massive part of her life.
Julie Brice runs the Townsville Scrabble Club, and is one of the state’s highest ranked players.
Ms Brice said her mum taught her to play when she was five or six years old, and her love of the game grew from there.
“I started beating her when I was a teenager, then played socially with friends until 2004 when my dad saw an ad for the Norfolk Island Scrabble Tournament and suggested to my mother that we both go,” she said. “That was my introduction into Scrabble tournaments, and I quickly became addicted.”
Ms Brice was playing Scrabble regularly, including competing in the Queensland Championships, when she and some friends decided to run a tournament on Magnetic Island in 2006 which soon became an annual event, and a Townsville tournament in 2008.
“It was as much an event for the quality of food and wine as it was for the Scrabble,” she said. “It booked out very quickly.”
In early 2012, a serious accident completely changed Ms Brice’s life and the tournaments she had created.
“The numbers dropped a little bit after I had my accident and became a quadriplegic,” she said.
“At the time I wasn’t really thinking about Scrabble too much, until you actually start the recovery process and you don’t really know what your limitations will be.
“At the moment my hand function is not good enough that I can draw tiles from the bag, so I’ve been given permission to use a computer app that I use to score and tile track.
“The Scrabble community is incredibly supportive and were great company for me when I was in hospital in Brisbane for nearly nine months, we even ran a few Scrabble tournaments in the spinal injury ward.”
The annual Townsville and Magnetic Island Scrabble Tournaments have now restarted, and Ms Brice said she hoped to see a big crowd par- ticipating this year.
She said her highest scoring word to date was the word “infamous” that scored her 190 points.
The Magnetic Island Scrabble Tournament will be on July 6 and 7, with the Townsville Tournament on July 13 and 14.